Wire spring for backs of seat constructions



Nov. 21-, 1944. w. H. NEELY 2,353,351

I WIRE SPRING FOR BACKS SEAT CONSTRUCTIONS Filed Dec. 11, 1939 INVENTOR.

' IWILLIHM H. NEELY Patented Nov. 21; 1944.

UNITED" OFFlCE WIRE SPRING FOR BACKS OF SEAT CONSTRUCTION S William H. Neely, Cleveland, hio,'assignor, by

mesne assignments, to John 0. Lincoln, Scottsdale, Ariz.

Application December 11, 1939, Serial No. 308,543 I 10 Claims. (01. 155-179) This invention relates in general to backs of upholstered furniture, automobile seats, etc., em-

bodying elongated wire springs secured side by side crosswise of a, frame-and more particularly to the elongated wire springs in such backs These springs, when secured at their opposite ends to a frame crosswise thereof so as to follow substantially the desired outline of the finished back structure, embody areas of undesirable stifiness close to the upper ends of the springs. To eliminate this undesirable localized stiffness in 'backs with elongated wire springs, it has been proposed to exclude these stiff areas in elongated wire springs from directly supporting the back of a person by inwardly offsetting the upper end zones of these springs and placing padding in the offset zones to give the finished back its proper shape. Such a construction is expensive in padding material and somewhat influences the elastic action of the spring. In addition, springs of this type possess insuflicient yielding action near their upper attachment points to the frame of a back construction.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved, elongated wire spring structure which embodies all properties of springs of the type referred to above and includes upwardly extended, yielding cantilever means rigidly coupled with the spring near its offset portion to permit of elimination of extra padding and increase the yielding action of the upper end zone of the spring structure.

Another object of the invention is the provi-' sion of a corrugated wire spring structure having an inwardly offset end zone with upwardly extended, yielding corrugated .wire cantilever means rigidly coupled with the corrugated wire spring near its offset and outwardly extended therefrom to substantially follow the curved line of the lower portion of said spring to effect substantial yielding action of the upper end zone of the spring structure.

In addition, the invention has other marked improvements and superio'rities which radically spring structure according to theinvention embodying a rearwardly bent upper end zone, and a corrugated wire cantilever rigidly secured to the spring structure at its bend.

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view through a finished back structure embodying somewhatmodified spring structures of the type shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a corrugated wire spring structure similar to Fig. 1 with the exceptionthat the upper end zone of the structure is rearwardly offset by rearwardly inclining one of the loops of the spring structure and that the corrugated wire cantilever at its lower end portion is forwardly oiiset to permit proper connection between the cantilever and its supporting spring structure.

Fig. 4 is a side View of the cantilever shown in Fig. 3, and

'Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the modified form of spring structure shown in Fig. 2.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing, reference numeral Zrepresents a tubular open frame of the back of an-automobile seat, which frame is made of steel tubing and includes a top rail 3, a bottom rail 4 and side rails 5. Top and bottom rails 3 and@ support a plurality of elongated, corrugated wire springs 6 which bridge the 'frame crosswise thereof and are securely attached to the said rails in a manner hereinafter to be described.

Each of the elongated, corrugated wir springs 6 is formed in accordance with my copending application Ser. No. 255,653, filed February 10,

1939, now PatentNo.2,279,336, dated April 14,.

1942. Thus, each spring is made of steel Wire bent to sinuous shape so that their loops 1 extend substantially parallel to each other and permit of longitudinal and vertical yielding and stretching of the spring under load. The upper end of each spring 6 .is formed with an upward- 1y. extended short integral extension 8, slightly curved in a plane substantially rectangular to 'the axis of the spring, and is provided at the,

end of said extension with a downwardly extended straight portion 9, arranged substantially parallel to" the axis of the spring and forming with curved extension 8 a hook-shapedatt'acnment means adapted to be sleeved into openings Ill in the top rail 3 for rigid attachment thereto.

The lower end of spring 6 is sharply bent at H rearwardly and upwardly and then at l2 downwardly to form a substantially V-shaped supporting arm l4. This arm has its free end [5 slightlyofiset and formed with a curved integral extension It in a plane substantially rectangular to the axis of the spring, and this extension has at its end a doubled-back straight and bottom rails 3 and 4 of frame 2, include in their supporting and resting portion l9 means effecting elimination of excessively stiff areas from supporting the back of a person resting in the seat structure. For such purpose, supporting and resting portion I 9 of each spring has its upper end portion inwardly offset by bending portion !9 at loop 2| rearwardly, an arrangement which eliminates outwardly bulged areas in upper portion 20 from contact with a load placed against resting portion 20.

Proper yielding action in-the upper portion of the spring structure is effected by a cantilever arrangement 22 embodying a preferably slightly curved, corrugated wire member or cantilever 23, the corrugations 24 of which are similar to the corrugations of spring 6. The lower and coil 25 of member 23 is slightly forwardly offset and rigidly clamped to loop 2| of spring 6 by means of clips 26, 21 in such a manner that cantilever 23 extends upwardly in a curve substantially following the curvature of the lower portion of spring 6. Preferably, as shown, upper end 'coil 28 of the cantilever is almost closed to provide a smooth upper edge on said lever,

The cantilever 23, which may besecured to the top face of loop 2|, see Figs. 1 and 3, or the bottom face of loop 2|, see Figs. 2 and 5. effects proper yielding action 01 the spring structure opposite its upper end portion 20 and also eliminates the necessity of excessive padding. The described construction permits of a substantial increase in the yield of the upper portion of the spring structure whencompared with present-day construction, as cantilever 23 read ly yields until this lever contacts with the offset portion 20 of spring 6. g

The lowest loop 3| of the sup orting and resting portion I9 is preferabl slightly forwardly inclined to effect a slight set-back of the lower portion of supporting and resting portion 19, which set-back counteracts building up of outwardly extended bulges in the lower portion.

In the form of the spring structure shown in Fig.3, the supporting and resting portion I9 has its upper end portion 20 inwardly offset by rearwardly inclining one of its loops, to wit:

loop 32, and then extending the following loop 33 in a plane substantially parallel and rearwardly offset with respect to the lower portion of S pporting and resting portion 19. The cantilever 34 in this case is rigidly attached-to inclined loop 32 by clips 35. 36. Such attachment is facilitated by forwardly inclining the lower end coil 31 of cantilever 34. an arrangement which simultaneously effects counteraction against outward bulging of the cantilever when a load is placed thereagain'st.

The springs of the type described. when rigidly secured to frame 2 in themanner previously referred to. interconnected with each other by helicals and finally encircled by an edge wire 38, provide a back construction of proper yieldin action and support. This construction is then padded with padding material 39 of equal thickness and finally covered witha cloth covering 40 attached to frame 2 in any customary.

manner.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A wire spring for cushioned seat structures comprising aresting portion, means for securing the ends of said resting portion to a frame, integral means within said resting portion sharply rearwardly offsetting one part of said resting portion with respect to the other part thereof, and cantilever means rigidly secured to the resting portion in the area of said offset, and extended in front of the offset part of said resting portion.

2. An elongated wire spring for cushioned backs of automobile and furniture seats comprising a substantially straight resting and supporting portion including an upper portion sharply rearwardly offset with respect to said straight portion, yielding cantilever means rigidly secured to said resting portion in the area of its offset and extended upwardly in front of its rearwardly offset upper portion, and attachment and supporting means at the lower end of said resting and supporting portion and the upper end of its rearwardly offset upper portion.

'3.- An elongated wire spring for cushioned backs of automobile and furniture seats comprising a sinuously corrugated resting and supporting portion having its upper portion rearwardly offset by rearwardly inclining one loop of its sinuous corrugations, yielding, sinuously corrugated cantilever means rigidly secured to said inclined loop and extended in front of the rearwardly offset upper portion of said supporting portion, and attachment and supporting means at the lower end of said resting and supporting portion and at the upper end of its rearwardly offset upper portion.

4. An elongated wire spring for cushioned backs of automobile and furniture seats comprising a resting portion, means for securing the "ends of said resting portion to a frame, integral means within said resting portion rearwardly offsetting one part thereof with respect to its other part, cantilever means secured to the integral means in-said resting portion and extended in front of its offset portion, and a forward bend in the lower end of said cantilever means for facilitating attachment to said integral means and counteracting outward bulging of said cantilever means.

5. An elongated wire spring for cushioned backs of automobile and furniture seats comprising a sinuously corrugated resting and supporting portion having its upper portion rearwardly offset by rearwardly inclining one loop of its sinuous corrugations, attachment and supporting means at the upper and lower ends of said resting and supporting portion, sinuously corrugated cantilever means rigidly secured to said inclined loop and extended in front of the rearwardly offset upper portion of said supporting portion, and a forwardly inclined bendat the lower end of said cantilever means for facilitating attachment to said inclined loop and counteracting outward bulging of said cantilever means.

6. An elongated wire spring for p olster automobile ,and furniture seat structures comprising a sinuously corrugated resting and supporting portion, and yielding, sinuously corrugated cantilever means rigidly secured at its one end to said resting and supporting portion between the opposite ends thereof and extended toward one end of said resting portion in spaced relation with respect thereto, said resting portion and said cantilever means having like cor-,

rugations and said cantilever means-having at its one end one loop aligned with and rigidly attached to one of the loops of said resting and supporting portion.

'7. An elongated wire spring for upholstered automobile and furniture seat structures comprising a sinuously corrugated resting and supporting portion, and yielding, sinuouslycorru gated cantilever means rigidly secured at its one end to said resting and supporting portion between the opposite ends thereof and extended corrugations corresponding to the corrugations of said resting portion attached to said seating portion and extended toward one end thereof,

said cantilever means including at one end a.

loop extended through a loop of said resting and supporting portion between its opposite ends, and a plurality of clips securing said end loop of said cantilever means at axially spaced points to'said loop of said resting portion; the opposite ends of said cantilever means being extended at opposite faces of said resting and supporting portion.

9. An elongated wire spring for upholstered automobile and furniture seat structures comprising a curved sinuously corrugated resting and supporting portion, a wire extension secured to said resting portion in diverging relation with respect thereto, and a non-pivotal connection between the end of the wire extension and said supporting portion, said connection including a looped end on said wire extension extended through a loop of the corrugations of said restingiand supporting portion and contacting said supporting portion at .its opposite faces, said looped end being interlocked with said supporting portion.

10. A wire spring for cushioned seat structures, comprising a corrugated main supporting member having alternately arranged leftand righthanded open loops connected by a series of spaced substantially straight portions extending transversfly of the longitudinal axis of said member, and a cantilever member including'a looped end portion, the looped configuration of said end portion being in engagement with a plurality of said spaced substantially straight portions whereby under the influence of a downward load said cantilever member at its inner end portion is non-pivotally supported by said member.

WILLIAM H. NEELY. 

